Thursday, February 21, 2008

Steve Wright has been found guilty of murdering five women in Suffolk.

The bodies ofGemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls were found in Ipswich over a 10-day period in December 2006.

Wright, 49, of Ipswich, said during his trial that he had sex with four of the five women, who were working as prostitutes, but denied killing them.

The jury at Ipswich Crown Court found him guilty of all five murders and he will be sentenced on Friday.

'Crucifix pose'

The trial heard the bodies of Miss Alderton and Miss Nicholls were found arranged with their arms outstretched in a crucifix pose.

The prosecution said Wright "systematically selected and murdered" all five women over a six-and-a-half-week period.

Suffolk police began an inquiry after Miss Nicol, 19, vanished in late October 2006.

Two weeks later, Miss Adams, 25, vanished and detectives began a "major inquiry", saying there were "obvious similarities".

This was followed by the disappearance of Miss Alderton, 24, Miss Clennell, 24, and 29-year-old Miss Nicholls.

Their bodies were eventually found in isolated locations around Ipswich.

In 2001, Wright worked as a barman at the Brook Hotel in Felixstowe before being sacked for stealing hundreds of pounds from the till, for which he was ordered to carry out 100 hours community service.

It was a DNA sample taken at the time of that conviction which led to police matching samples taken from the dead women.

He was put under surveillance by police before being arrested on 19 December and charged two days later.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the decision by the women to turn to prostitution "was ultimately to prove fatal".

He called on the judge to impose a "whole life term".

Gemma Adams' father Brian said: "I am very relieved and pleased for all of the families that this is now over and we can now start to get on with our lives.

"I can't speak highly enough about the police in this case.

"I don't have any feelings about Wright."

Wright's brother Keith said after the verdict: "I'm surprised the verdict has been so quick.

"I would have thought there is enough things for them to have some doubt.

"Whatever the sentence, it's all over now."

Michael Crimp, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said from outside the court: "Steve Wright is the factor that links all five women.

"He was last person to see them alive and the scientific evidence proved that he was responsible for their deaths.

"One telling piece of evidence was a carpet fibre from the footwell of Steve Wright's car found in Tania Nicol's hair.

"This was despite her body being found in water."Her killer failed to destroy this significant piece of evidence."He added that the victims' families had sat through harrowing evidence and he hoped they could take some comfort from the verdicts.

Det Ch Supt Stewart Gull, who led the investigation, said: "These appalling crimes left a community, a county and a nation in a state of profound shock."They left Suffolk constabulary facing its most daunting challenge in history." He thanked local people for their support during the investigation.